Across the Mackenzie Delta, people aren't letting the COVID-19 pandemic break their rhythm as the Peel River Jamboree just wrapped up an online jigging contest that ran April 6-8 and drew 184 contestants from the entire region.
In the end, so many people signed up many of the initial six categories had to be split up by gender to cover the volume of dancers.
"We’re trying to promote emotional and mental health while following social distancing orders from the Chief Public Health Officer," said organizer Sierra Daley. "The idea is we’re offering contests to the people who would normally be attending our jamboree in person."
Cash prizes were handed out for the first, second and third place jiggers in eight categories. In the end, Kaylor Peterson won the 5 and under boys and Rayleigh Kaeangnetak was the top placed girl. Diezel Blake was the top 6-10 boy and Fraydee Greenland was the top placed girl. Edwin Kay was the top placed entry 11-15 years old, Edward Kogiak won the 16-30 men's category, Deborah Peterson was the top placed 16-30 woman. Frederick Arey was the top 31-49 man and Marion Koe was the top woman 31-49 years old, and Brian Francis was the top placed 50 and over.
A group of judges evaluate each video based on technique and movement to the music and assign each category a score of 1-10. Then they points are added up and the highest score wins. In the event of a tie, the two winners have a jig off and the judges evaluate that.
This will be the first of several online contests throughout the month hosted through the Facebook group Fort McPherson Peel River Jamboree Online Events, with a talent show now underway.
Daley said jamboree committee decided on the online contests to thank the community for the work done fundraising for the jamboree.
"At first when the CPHO put out the order to cancel, as a committee we were all disappointed," she said. "We were thinking that we might do a summer festival or something in the fall, but as the weeks have gone by it didn’t seem like those would be something we would be allowed to do. So we thought of moving online. We wanted to be able to have something to thank everyone who helped us fundraise so far."
Anyone interested in participating in the contests are asked to read the rules to ensure their entry is valid. Daley also noted the video should be recorded for the contest and not a previously recorded video.
As the committee is still getting used to running things online, Daley asked contestants to be prepared for the occasional hiccup as they figured things out.
The contest is open to any resident of Fort McPherson, Tsiigehtchic, Inuvik, Tuktoyaktuk and Aklavik.